2-746-370 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Trees on a Rocky Hillside, c. 1849. Durand was one of the first American artists to paint outdoors, rather than in the confines of a studio, which was the longstanding tradition. This outdoor oil sketch of a seemingly random corner of the woods offers an intimate view of a granite outcropping amid lush vegetation. Its small-scale, unusually cropped composition contrasts with the sweeping vistas in many other landscapes in this gallery.